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Citizen complaint of the day: The dog-wounding catch-basin grates of East Boston

A concerned pet-owning citizen complains about catch basins along the East Boston stadium and Greenway:

my dog was running upon the snow suddenly he started yelling and crying i try to see what happen to him he had gotten is leg stuck and in the momentum fractured two bones. ... my little one fracture his legs and will cost me at list four thousand. dollars to get it fix.

It could have happened on or off leash, running or walking. My dog's gotten his feet stuck in those things before and certainly stepped on glass, etc. when leashed. I just don't get the immediate leap to attack her on the leash question when there's no proof of it AND when she's already dealing with a $4000 vet bill.

while we're on the topic of sewer grates, I'd mention the ones on D street Westbound between Congress and Summer, they are simple square grates with parallel bars, except they run parallel to traffic instead of perpendicular. Prime for catching a bike tire. Would probably take all of 30 seconds per grate to just pull them up and rotate 90 degrees (there is 1 or 2 that are oriented in the better direction)

So the next time someone's telling a sob story about the huge bills they're incurring while their child's being treated for leukemia at Children's, just reassure them that adoption fees for a new child will be much more cost effective.

Grates much worse than those are the ones with the long slots in them rather than a checkerboard pattern. If the slots go parallel to the road (like they usually are), they eat bicycle wheels. I see them a lot out here in the burbs, not sure if they have them in the city. Nasty stuff, though.

I feel sorry for the pooch, but I really don't see a solution, either.

Yes, one thing, among many, would be pets. People own pets. Pets are valuable property. People also own bikes, motorcycles, wheelchairs. The city owns street-sweeping equipment. Contractors own snowplows. BWSC needs to open grates to clean catch basins.

In choosing a grate design, why would the city

not

take into account how the grate affects everyone who uses, maintains, and repairs the roadway and the sewer system over the entire lifecycle of the product?

I wonder if they mean the greenway with the signs that say "No Dogs Allowed?" That greenway? Yah, I know there are parts of the park that are "dog friendly", but none so friendly that dogs are allowed without a leash. Maybe keeping one's dog on a leash would solve the problem, rather than expecting the city to replace the sewer covers?

Someone uses the citizens connect app for *exactly* its intended purpose: to alert the city to something that the people who design and spec and install sewer grates might not already know: That this particular design is hard on dogs' paws.

Note that the report is not a hostile / snarky / ridiculous comment. It's not like he/she is suing the city, or raising an outcry, or demanding anything; just putting on record the fact that this particular design of grate injured this particular dog on this particular day.

Maybe it's a one-off freak accident, maybe it's a recurring problem.

See, the wonderful thing about computers and databases is, next time someone needs to spec grates for a project, they might just just say, "Hey, Citizen's connect, any issues with grates?"

If they see a lot of similar reports, or some other consistent problem, they might choose a different design. Or not, depending on whether there are other advantages to this grate design that outweigh the disadvantages.

Collecting data and using it to inform decisions. It's part of quality 101 -- it's how the Japanese auto industry nearly drove the Detroit dinosaurs into extinction.

Closed. Case Noted. These grates were installed when the park was constructed. it is unfortunate that your dog was injured;however, the design will not change. the existing grates will remain. if you have any questions, please contact the parkline @ 617-535-7275.